Most people know that the King James Version of the Bible states that Adam lived 930 years. What most people do not know is Joseph Smith changed that number to 1,000 years. What I did not know and what surprises the heck out of me is that the lds Book of Moses (which is taken from Joseph Smith's Translation) does NOT reflect that change.
Can someone please explain this to me?
Is the lds church too cowardly to put in this small, but significant change?
Is it just that no one in authority can actually read?
Does anyone in Salt Lake care?
Is it the old "well we cannot trust the Reorganized church (Community of Christ)."
I guess this fits with the lds paradigm of not using the JST to begin with, because Joseph never finished his work. I do not care if Joseph only made one percent of the necessary changes in the Bible, I want to know what he did change!
The reason why this is so vital to me is that it makes perfect sense that Adam lived exactly 1,000 years. Adam was told by the MOST HIGH GOD in the Garden of Eden that he would die in the same day that he ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One day to GOD is 1,000 years. GOD does not lie. Adam died at the exact end of that time frame. Time was different in the Garden, because the Earth had not yet fallen.
King James Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it:
For in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.
Joseph Smith made no changes to this verse! There are hundreds of changes to the Book of Genesis, but not this critical verse.
Why exactly 1,000 years? Because Adam and Eve started out in a terrestrial state that mirrors the World of Spirits. They in essence started out in a higher state than we do, so there was no need for them to go back. Our two noble parents learned everything they needed to know and do in order to be redeemed by CHRIST and go on to enter Heaven. Since they had to wait for CHRIST to first be resurrected and given the keys to resurrect everyone else, they most likely waited in Paradise which is the highest level in the World of Spirits. But they were already sufficiently prepared to ascend.
Most of us are going to have learn a wealth of information when we are dead. The corrupt condition of the world today is not as conducive to spiritual growth as it was when Eve and Adam lived.
For example my noble Mother lived to be 92 years old and now has 908 years (if necessary) to learn and grow in the Spirit World.
A child taken at ten has 990 years if needed. If you make it to 111 years ("eleventy-one" in Tolkien speak), then you "only" have 889 years left.
The Most High God and his Queen, the Most High Goddess are perfectly fair. No one gets cheated out of their "Day" of experience. I can also promise you that someone dying young is not going to be complaining when they get to the Spirit World. Unless of course they did something so horrific as to end up in Hell. The lowest level of the Spirit World will be no day at the beach. Most people are likely to end up in the middle level, Prison, which is a terrible name for a place of enormous potential progress. The truly CHRIST-like people, regardless of religion, are going to the top level which is Paradise. If you do not believe me then read Doctrine and Covenants 76 and look for the references to the World of Spirits.
So Joseph Smith already knew most people thought the Bible was silly for many different reasons and one of them was that the original patriarchs lived apparently ridiculous lengths of time. If you are a fraud then you "correct" all of those long lives into something more believable to help sell your new religion. Joseph did not do that, because Joseph was not a fake. He made the first patriarch older, because it is the truth, however more implausible the number is.
I recognize that most of what I am saying is the Gospel according to me. I feel strongly that this is true simply because it points to the fairness and impartiality of our Divine Parents. I might not make it where GOD dwells, but I get the same chance and exact same amount of preparation as everyone else. And so do you.
